INDIAN   NOTES 
AND  MONOGRAPHS 

EDITED  BY  F.  W.  HODGE 


A  SERIES  OF  PUBLICA- 
TIONS RELATING  TO  THE 
AMERICAN  ABORIGINES 


HOW  THE  MAKAH  OBTAINED 

POSSESSION  OF  CAPE 

FLATTERY 


California 
Regional 
'acility 


TOLD   BY 

ALBERT  IRVINE 

TRANSLATED   BY 

LUKE  MARKISTUN 


NEW   YORK 

MUSEUM    OF   THE   AMERICAN    INDIAN 

HEYE  FOUNDATION 

1921 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALJFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 


THIS  series  of  INDIAN  NOTES  AND 
MONOGRAPHS  is  devoted  primarily  to 
the  publication  of  the  results  of  studies 
by  members  of  the  staff  of  the  Mus- 
eum of  the  American  Indian,  Heye 
Foundation,  and  is  uniform  with  HIS- 
PANIC NOTES  AND  MONOGRAPHS,  pub- 
lished by  the  Hispanic  Society  of 
America,  with  which  organization  this 
Museum  is  in  cordial  cooperation. 

Only  the  first  ten  volumes  of  INDIAN 
NOTES  AND  MONOGRAPHS  are  numbered. 
The  unnumbered  parts  may  readily  be 
determined  by  consult ing-the  List  of 
Publications  issued  as  one  of  the  series. 


INDIAN    NOTES 
AND   MONOGRAPHS 

EDITED  BY.  F.  W.  HODGE 


A  SERIES  OF  PUBLICA- 
TIONS RELATING  TO  THE 
AMERICAN  ABORIGINES 


HOW  THE  MAKAH  OBTAINED 

POSSESSION  OF  CAPE 

FLATTERY 

TOLD   I!Y 

ALBERT  IRVINE 

TRANSLATED    liY 

LUKE  MARKISTUN 

NEW   YORK 

MUSEUM    OF   THE   AMERICAN    INDIAN 

HEYK  FOUNDATION 

1921 


HOW    THE     MAKAH     OB- 
TAINED POSSESSION  OF 
CAPE  FLATTERY 


TOLD    BY 

ALBERT  IRVINE 

TRANSLATED    BY 

LUKE   MARKISTUN 


HOW  THE  MAKAH    OBTAINED 

POSSESSION  OF    CAPE 

FLATTERY 

TOLD  BY  ALBERT  IRVINE 
TRANSLATED  BY  LUKE  MARKISTUN 

HIS  Neah  bay  was  owned  by  the 
Nitinat,  together  with  Tatoosh 
island.  There  was  a  man  who 
went  out  from  this  village  here, 
out  on  the  road  leading  south  from  the 
village,  and  on  the  trail  he  met  a  man  who 
lived  out  in  the  woods,  a  wild  man.  One 
of  his  feet  was  bigger  than  the  other,  one 
big  and  one  small,  of  this  man.  When 
he  got  up  to  the  wild  man  he  lost  all  his 
senses,  also  his  breath.  When  this  man 
came  to,  he  became  the  strongest  man  in 
the  village. 


INDIAN    NOTES 


THE   MAKAH 


At  this  time  the  Makahs  heard  about 
this  man  that  got  the  strength  (the 
Makahs  were  from  Waatcht,  Sooes,  and 
Ozette),  so  they  came  over  here  to  have  a 
hair-pulling  contest.  One  of  the  Makahs 
challenged  the  man  that  had  the  strength, 
but  he  refused:  he  wanted  to  try  with 
one  of  the  slaves.  So  the  Nitinat  let 
him  and  the  Makah  (slave)  come  out; 
he  belonged  to  one  of  the  chieftains  of  the 
Makahs.  So  they  had  the  hair-pulling 
contest  and  in  the  contest  the  Makah 
got  his  neck  [head]  twisted  right  off, 
which  killed  him. 

After  this  time,  five  girls  went  across 
from  Ozette  village  to  Ozette  island. 
They  were  going  out  picking  licorice- 
roots,  and  when  they  were  going  home 
from  the  island,  a  storm  came  up  and 
these  girls  drifted  on  to  Tatoosh  island 
and  there  became  slaves  to  the  Nitinats. 
Then  the  Makah  tribe  found  out  that 
they  were  drifted  to  Tatoosh  island  and 
asked  to  buy  these  girls  from  them;  they 
bought  back  four,  missing  one. 

Then   they   had   council   together   and 


INDIAN  .NOTES 


CAPE    FLATTERY 


said:  "It  is  enough,  what  the  Nitinats 
have  done  to  us!  They  have  twisted 
off  the  head  of  one  of  us  and  made  slaves 
of  our  girls.  Let  us  make  war  with 
them!"  So  they  made  war  with  these 
Nitinats.  They  made  their  first  attack 
at  Tatoosh  island;  they  fought  without 
any  firearms,  no  powder.  They  had 
bows  and  arrows,  also  spears.  So  they 
were  standing  close  to  each  other  during 
this  fight.  There  was  great  slaughter  on 
both  sides.  When  they  got  back  home, 
that  is,  the  Ozettes,  they  left  two  canoes 
on  guard;  if  the  Nitinats  would  attack 
them,  they  had  these  canoes  day  after 
day  on  guard.  If  any  of  the  canoes 
should  go  from  Tatoosh  to  Ozette  they 
were  going  to  have  these  canoes  go  out 
and  slaughter  them.  These  Nitinats 
moved  away  from  the  island  on  account 
of  being  killed  off  so  easily  on  that 
Tatoosh  island,  therefore  they  moved  to 
the  mainland,  where  they  call  Deah, 
where  a  person  may  see  these  shells  and 
clam-beds  around  here,  that  was  from 
the  time  when  the  Nitinats  were  here. 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


THE    MAKAH 


Now  this  gave  a  chance  for  the  Ozettes, 
Sooes,  and  Waatcht  people  to  get  to- 
gether and  come  over  and  attack  these 
Nitinats.  They  fought  on  this  ground. 
The  Makahs  had  a  council  over  these  war 
affairs,  and  said,  "We'll  never  give  up 
fighting  for  the  place!"  They  were 
going  to  fight  till  they  drove  the  Nitinats 
out  of  the  place.  The  Nitinats  found 
out  that  they  were  losing,  so  they  tried 
to  make  peace.  They  asked  the  chief 
of  the  Makahs'  daughter  to  marry  their 
chief,  so  they  wouldn't  fight  any  more. 

There  were  a  brother  and  a  sister 
among  these  Ozettes.  They  had  noses, 
ears,  and  hair  just  alike.  After  they  had 
this  council,  it  was  suggested  that  this 
young  man  should  go  in  the  place  of  his 
sister.  This  man's  name  was  Wutswud. 
Now,  he  left  word  that  he  would  be  gone 
four  days;  it  was  this  man  that  went  as  a 
young  girl.  When  this  young  man's 
father  brought  him  over  to  the  Nitinats, 
\\  utswud  got  a  knife  and  cut  himself  in 
the  groin,  and  when  he  got  together  with 
the  man  that  he  married,  he  reached 


INDIAN    NOTES 


CAPE    FLATTERY 


down  where  he  had  cut  himself  and 
showed  his  bloody  hand  to  the  husband 
and  told  him  not  to  sleep  with  him  for 
that  reason. 

Now,  after  the  three  days,  on  the  fourth 
day  he  wanted  him  close  alongside  of 
him  and  hugged  him  pretty  close.  Dur- 
ing the  night  he  [Wutswud]  felt  around 
for  the  husband  to  find  out  whether  he 
was  asleep.  When  he  found  he  was 
sound  asleep,  he  went  for  the  door  to 
open  it,  then  he  came  back.  He  got 
hold  of  this  Nitinat  who  was  next  to  the 
chief  and  cut  his  throat.  He  took  the 
head  off  and  carried  it  along  with  him. 
This  Nitinat  chief's  name  was  Watl- 
wiekoos. 

On  the  fourth  day  they  were  on  the 
lookout  for  this  man  to  make  his  appear- 
ance. Truly  enough,  he  appeared  and 
showed  that  he  had  the  head,  which  he 
showed  by  making  a  zigzag  on  the  beach. 
This  was  a  signal  for  the  Ozette  Indians. 
So  the  Nitinats  moved  to  Tatoosh  again, 
and  had  only  one  chief  this  time.  So  the 
Makahs  got  together  and  made  an 


AND    MONOGRAPHS 


10 


THE    MAKAH 


attack  on  the  Nitinats  which  were  on 
Tatoosh  island,  slaughtering  a  good 
many,  but  they  did  not  get  the  chief. 
The  Ozettes  went  back  home,  and  during 
the  night  the  Sooes  came  up  toward  the 
cape  and  hid  themselves  in  the  coves 
there  for  that  day.  They  saw  a  canoe 
out  between  Kitidit  [Duncan  rock]  and 
Tatoosh  island,  and  in  it  was  the  chief 
of  the  Nitinats.  So  they  paddled  off 
from  their  hiding  place  to  capture  this 
man  who  was  out  fishing.  They  had 
paddled  quite  a  way  out  before  the  folks 
on  Tatoosh  island  discovered  that  there 
were  war-canoes  coining,  so  they  called 
out  and  gave  the  warning  from  the 
island  to  the  man  who  was  out  fishing, 
shouting,  "Here  come  the  war-canoes!" 
They  called  out  like  that  two  or  three 
times,  so  the  man  out  fishing  paddled  for 
the  island  and  met  them  just  as  they  were 
close  to  the  cape  as  you  go  into  the  land- 
ing place.  The  man  that  was  out  fishing 
jumped  from  the  canoe  to  the  shore; 
while  he  was  going  up  the  rocks,  they 
threw  a  spear  at  him.  He  was  hit,  not 


INDIAN    NOTES 


CAPE    FLATTERY 

11 

through     his     body,     but     through     his 

blanket   that   he   wore,   and   they   pulled 

him   down    from    there   and    killed    him. 

This  chief's  name  was  Kitlcheduk. 

Their    chiefs    were     killed,     and     they 

stayed  two  days  packing  up.      They  did 

not  move  across  at  first  when  they  moved 

out  of  here;    they  moved  up  the  sound 

[east]. 

The    Makahs    captured    at    this    time 

what   they   have   here,   and   became  sole 

owners    of    the    place.       They    became 

owners  of  Neah  bay  and  Tatoosh  island. 

Now  our  title  to  this  ground  and  the 

reason  I  am  here  now  is  because  we  have 

shed   blood    here.     That   is   our   title   to 

these  grounds. 

AND    MONOGRAPHS 

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